I love V/T's new FS. I think this will really grow as the season goes on. There are a lot of wonderful small choreographic moments and the lifts are interesting. I adore this pair. Far from finding them dull as some seem to, elements aside, I could watch them all day with their incredible basic skating and gorgeous head-to-toe pure lines. I thought this performance was a good first outing for the season — lots of good stuff and just enough to work on and grow.

Yes, this is what I like about them: they are solid, and this is a quality that you rarely find in Pair Skating at the moment: all the Pairs usually make many mistakes, even it they don't fall, when they are often almost clean!

Yes, I like that about D/C too. They are the one pair where I do not have to hold my breath when they skate, wondering what will happen. They never seem to be struggling to get through a program. If they make a mistake, it's relatively rare, whereas for nearly every other team, a clean program would be rare. D/C weren't flawless yesterday (2As were off for sure), but I still felt at ease watching. They of course have weaknesses, but the throws and the twist especially are great.

James/Cipres were a pleasant surprise! I also thought Castelli/Shnapir's LP was fantastic. Great choreography. If they can up the technical difficulty (which will be difficult given their consistency issues), I think they could score quite high. Still, I was glad they got a personal best yesterday. Well-deserved.

V/T's long program has potential, just needs some work. The SBS 3T late in the program are great. Even their botched first lift looked good.

I don't have a problem with V and T's win if you consider how gifted Ssquared from Germany has been in past years. they'd make mistakes and still beat teams and the argument but the quality blah blah blah so I have no problem That being said V and T have to up the ante. including technically not just chemistry wise. I did like P and T a lot though i am a little tired of their same look so to speak; I would love to see something different from them but it is sort of the same stuff to different music with a similar overtone and for that matter undertone.

Skater Boy, honestly, I have no idea what you're talking about.

2007/2008: S/S' first title is certainly controversial, due to a faulty free skate. But the team that had the cleanest free skate was technically behind them. When you spot the best team in the world 3-5 points on base value alone (what Dube/Davison, Kavaguti/Smirnov and the Zhangs gave away in the free skate), make mistakes as well, and don't have the components to back them up, don't be surprised when they don't overtake them

2008/2009: They were the best. Period.

2009/2010: They weren't the best, and they lost repeatedly throughout the season. They won two competitions: Skate Canada and Nebelhorn. Both were deserved victories

2010/2011: Unquestionably the best skaters of the season. They nailed virtually every competition, climaxing in the finest skate of their career at Worlds.

2011/2012: Hey, they made mistakes at NHK. And lost. They made mistakes at Worlds. And won. Because the other team made a huge mistake. Because they ramped up the technical difficulty in a huge way.

2007/2008: S/S' first title is certainly controversial, due to a faulty free skate. But the team that had the cleanest free skate was technically behind them. When you spot the best team in the world 3-5 points on base value alone (what Dube/Davison, Kavaguti/Smirnov and the Zhangs gave away in the free skate), make mistakes as well, and don't have the components to back them up, don't be surprised when they don't overtake them

2010/2011: Unquestionably the best skaters of the season. They nailed virtually every competition, climaxing in the finest skate of their career at Worlds.

S/S have jawdroppingly creative programs.

The only times I found S/S's results questionable were 2008 Worlds - the LP only, not overall which they deserved; and 2011 Euros, where I believe they should have finished behind K/S. Otherwise, they earned what they achieved, which could not have been easy considering they do not have a major federation backing them (or, at times, really any federation backing them, due to Steuer's past). And jawdroppingly creative is an apt description.

Skater Boy - try to think of any other pair that could skate such an incredible variety of programs with such a high level of difficulty. Elena and Anton might have managed it, but nobody else really comes to mind. Make no mistake - they could have taken the easy way out and skated Out of Africa clones (only with easier choreo) for the rest of their career; they would have won easily even without upping the ante all the time. But they choose to challenge themselves in every way possible. I will miss them when they retire and hope that Ingo Steuer can find other skaters who will be able to realize his vision. Steuer's work with S/S is the very best example of how to choreograph for the IJS without going by the numbers, and provides considerable support for the assertion that the IJS does not have to mean the ruin of pairs skating.

2007/2008: S/S' first title is certainly controversial, due to a faulty free skate. But the team that had the cleanest free skate was technically behind them. When you spot the best team in the world 3-5 points on base value alone (what Dube/Davison, Kavaguti/Smirnov and the Zhangs gave away in the free skate), make mistakes as well, and don't have the components to back them up, don't be surprised when they don't overtake them

2008/2009: They were the best. Period.

2009/2010: They weren't the best, and they lost repeatedly throughout the season. They won two competitions: Skate Canada and Nebelhorn. Both were deserved victories

2010/2011: Unquestionably the best skaters of the season. They nailed virtually every competition, climaxing in the finest skate of their career at Worlds.

2011/2012: Hey, they made mistakes at NHK. And lost. They made mistakes at Worlds. And won. Because the other team made a huge mistake. Because they ramped up the technical difficulty in a huge way.

S/S have jawdroppingly creative programs.

I think Dube & Davison should have won the 2008 Worlds, and the Zhangs also should have beaten Savchenko & Szolkowy.

Kavaguti & Smirnov should have beaten them at the 2011 Europeans, and should have been so much closer to them at the 2009 Europeans.

I also think Volosozhar & Trankov should have beaten them at the Grand Prix final last season.

Overall I agree with Skater Boy. They often receive exagerrated scores. Bin Yao complained about their scores after the 2008 Grand Prix final, and Eurosport were outraged at their win at the 2008 Worlds.

In 2010 was the one time they were underscored as Shen & Zhoa in their return became the judges pets and were the ones receiving ridiculously inflated scores.

My thoughts: Wow, I am really starting to like Denney and Coughlin even though I was skeptical about them when they first got together (and also felt bad Caitlin). I think they probably CAN go farther than Caitlin and John could have. I'm not feeling Volosozhar and Trankov this season. I am really enjoying Pang and Tong even though their technical side is hampered by his injury.